The Supreme Court has directed the Lakshadweep administration to apprise the court on why it removed meat and chicken from the Mid-day meal scheme in the Union Territory.
The Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the order on Tuesday on a Special Leave Petition that challenged the September 2021 verdict of the Kerala High Court.
The High Court had last year rejected a PIL moved against the Lakshadweep administration’s decision to exclude chicken and meat from mid-day meals and to close down dairy farms in the region.
The Apex Court asked the island Union Territory as to why the children were being deprived of this.
Appearing for the Union Territory, Additional Solicitor General K.M. Natraj said that a better thing has been given.
The Bench then asked the law officer, as to how the children could be given dry fruits as a better option instead of chicken and mutton?
After the ASG presented the new mid-day meal scheme before the Apex Court, the latter asked about chicken and said that suppose chicken was a part of his dietary or cultural habit, then how could this be taken?
When the ASG said that mutton and chicken were given as supplementary items, the Court directed that the practice of giving them as supplementary items should be continued.
The law officer reiterated that it was a policy decision, which was taken after considering various aspects such as seasonal availability of items, nutritional aspects and economic factors, among others.
The Apex Court, while observing that children came to government schools because of mid-day meals, directed the Union Territory administration not to alter the mid-day meal scheme and listed the matter for further hearing on May 11.
Earlier in May last year, the Supreme Court had passed an interim order, directing the continuation of the interim order passed by the Kerala High Court in the case, which effectively meant that the authorities should continue including meat items in mid-day meals.